Month: May 2023

By ELAINE GANLEY Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French authorities say a French citizen and another holding dual French-Irish nationality have been freed from an Iranian prison. Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Friday that Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan, who both had been held in a prison in Mashhad, in northeast Iran, were heading to

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s state-run news agency says the head of Turkey’s Red Crescent organization has stepped down, months after the aid agency came under intense criticism for selling tents to a charity instead of dispatching them directly to areas devastated by a powerful earthquake in February. Kerem Kinik’s resignation on Friday came a

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press A Ponca tribe chief whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native American is a person under the law was honored Friday with the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp that features his portrait. The release of the stamp of Chief Standing Bear comes 146 years after the

By RIAZAT BUTT Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — The arrest of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier this week has shown how quickly his fervent loyalists can mobilize in large numbers. Within hours of his detention, his supporters torched vehicles and buildings. They attacked police and military facilities to express their fury over the

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has nominated Philip Jefferson, a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, to serve as vice chair of the board. Biden has also chosen Adriana Kugler, a Georgetown University economist, to join the Fed’s board. If confirmed by the Senate, she would

By SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian military commanders said Friday that their troops had recaptured more territory from Russian forces at the scene of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle, for the eastern city of Bakhmut, but it wasn’t clear if this marked the start of Kyiv’s long-expected counteroffensive. Russia’s Defense

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Army Chief of Staff James McConville has met with Indonesia’s top defense official to push for stronger security ties amid growing Chinese maritime activity in the Indo-Pacific region. McConville says he and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto discussed ways to deepen cooperation, including enhanced joint military

By NICOLE WINFIELD and PAOLO SANTALUCIA Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has joined Italy’s conservative premier in encouraging Italians to have more children after Italy registered a record low birth rate last year. Francis urged concrete political action to invert the “demographic winter” that in population terms resulted in the disappearance of a

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Supreme Court has upheld the 135-year prison sentence of a British teacher and nanny who created and distributed pornography of children in his care after changing his name and moving to another country following previous convictions. Ben David Rose legally changed his identity after his conviction on child pornography charges in

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ defense minister says the island nation is working together with Irish and U.S. military experts to help train two groups of Ukrainian personnel in clearing an untold number of unmarked minefields in their homeland. Replying to an Associated Press query, Minister Michalis Georgallas said Friday

By KEN MILLER Associated Press Storms in parts of the southern Plains produced numerous small tornadoes but no reports of deaths or injuries. The National Weather Service is reporting as many as 10 tornadoes in central Oklahoma on Thursday and nearly 15 in northwestern Kansas. A school in the Kansas town of Weskan was damaged.